Weekend Sports Odds and Bets: 2015 Stadium Series Takes Centre Stage

What’s going on in the sporting world this weekend? Glad you asked. Here’s your guide for this weekend’s best sports betting events.

Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015

NHL

Stadium Series: San Jose Sharks at Los Angeles Kings

You know what’s an encouraging sign for hockey? When a Sharks vs. Kings game at Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco sells out all 69,000 seats. It doesn’t hurt that this is a great rivalry to begin with and the fact that fans should be able to take in the action while wearing shorts.

Odds have yet to be released for the game, but expect to see this one pretty close to a Pick ‘em at the open. The Kings are in the middle of their annual wake-up-and-win stretch and they sit just two points behind the eighth-place Sharks. These outdoor games are always tough to handicap (especially in San Francisco) but betting the under with a lean toward the Kings makes sense.  Being outdoors in a warm climate obviously presents challenges for the ice crew.

“What [humidity] does is it coats the ice and it makes it really tough to work with,”said Dan Craig, the NHL’s Senior Director of Facilities Operations. “It puts a real heavy load on the truck, so the truck has been working a lot harder on this one than it has on any of the other ones that we’ve done, but that’s the main purpose of us building [mobile ice plants] that we did. When we need to push, we push. If it rains, it rains. Humidity is a laden heat load that we need to deal with throughout the game.”

Sounds like slow ice is in the forecast to me.

Pick: Under 5 with a lean to the Kings.

NCAAB

Clemson at Duke

Sports Interaction NCAA Basketball Odds

If you haven’t started your college hoops research for March Madness, you’re just as bad as the L.A. Kings in the procrastination department. Duke is coming off a huge overtime win over North Carolina on Wednesday and shouldn’t have much trouble taking care of Clemson. However, there is a wrinkle here with Duke’s 6-foot-11 centre Jahlil Okafor listed as questionable with a foot injury. Okafor is a beast averaging 17.9 points and 9.4 rebounds per game so if he sits, that will really open up opportunities for Clemson inside. Duke will be favored here regardless and likely by double digits at full health, but don’t rule out Clemson covering in a letdown spot for the Blue Devils, whether Okafor plays or not.

Pick: Take Clemson to cover if getting double-digits.